1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to book supports or reading stands.
2. Background Art
Since the very advent of the book, the reader has had a tedious task of keeping the book open while reading. Books typically must be constantly held open with one or two hands. Often this involves pressing the book down against a table or cradling it in one's lap, but it almost always involves the continuous use of the reader's hands and fingers. This typically causes stress, fatigue, discomfort or even pain to the reader's hand and fingers.
Also, since most books, especially paperbacks, will close by themselves once opened, it is very difficult to keep one's place in the book. Absent a bookmark, many readers will bend a page over or attempt to lay the book open with the particular pages face down. These methods often fail to maintain the desired page before the reader can resume where he or she left off. Bent pages not only damage the book, but they can easily become unbent or over several occasions of bending, more than one page can be left bend. Leaving the book open face down to the desired page also presents problems as the book is often accidentally closed by misplacing or moving it.
Further, in many activities it is desirable to have the book not only held open, but also kept in a substantially upright position. Keeping the book in such a position allows the user to read the book hands free and at some distance from the book. One example of an activity that benefits from keeping a book open and substantially upright is cooking. When one is cooking, often reference has to be made to the recipe. Obviously it is much easier on the cook to be able to keep the cookbook visible and open to a specific page while having the cook's hands free. Not only would this facilitate the cooking process, it would have an added benefit of keeping the cookbook clean as it would not have to be touched repeatedly by the cook's hands.
Many devices have in the past have attempted to solve these problems. Some have operated by simply holding or otherwise positioning the book in an upright position. Others have included the ability to secure the pages in place and/or tilt the book up from the horizontal plane. These devices have attempted to solve the aforementioned problems with mixed results. Although some of the prior designs do hold books open and at an angle, they have problems and drawbacks to their designs. For example, some prior devices are awkward, large and cumbersome, this prevents them from being easily portable. Portability is a feature strongly desired in a bookholder since most books are likewise portable. Even those which are portable are unfortunately rather bulky and not easy to carry with the reader.
Another limitation of many of the prior bookholders is that they will hold the book in only a single position. Clearly, being able to alter the position of the book as necessary to accommodate the reader is an desired feature. Some of the prior designs do not adequately secure the pages of the book and/or obscure a portion of the book's printed matter. This makes those particular bookholders difficult to use and cause the user significant frustration. Some of the prior devices also are not versatile enough to accommodate a variety of sizes and shapes of different books. Lastly, many of the prior devices are so complicated in their design and structure which results in a high cost of manufacture.
No single prior invention has combined the qualities of the invention described herein. The bookholder set forth herein is much smaller, lighter, and simpler than the prior devices. By having a simple and compact design which can be easily transported and which efficiently holds a book in variety of positions, the invention described herein meets the needs of readers while being capable of being manufactured at a reasonable cost.